Matteo Polleri, “From Adversity to Heresy: Towards a Disjunctive Conjunction of Foucault and Marx.” Genealogy+Critique 11, no. 1 (2025): 1–21.
https://doi.org/10.16995/gc.23083
Open access
Abstract
Over the last decades, influential critical thinkers have creatively mobilized Foucault’s ideas to renovate the Marxist lens. However, while recognizing key proximities between Marx’s and Foucault’s works, Étienne Balibar has argued that these attempts necessarily face fundamental obstacles. In his view, the “point of heresy” connecting Marx’s and Foucault’s thought must be understood as a fundamental “adversity.” By critically discussing Balibar’s argument, this article shows that a “conjunctive”, rather than “adversative,” interpretation of the “point of heresy” might be used to develop a cross-reading of Marx and Foucault. The article thus poses methodological reflections for a systematic reassessment of the Marx-Foucault relationship.
Keywords: Marx, Foucault, Balibar, Marxism, heresy
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